drying artifact

From:

"Hagerty, Marjorie A." <mhagerty@emc.org>

I have a question that I hope someone can answer and explain. When we do
immunoperoxidase for tumor markers, we see a degeneration at the edges of
the tissue which tend to stain darker than the rest of the tissue. This is
very apparent when viewing the slides on an image analyzer. I have been told
by people doing this testing for many, many years that it is due to drying
and is common. It is called a drying artifact. I do not see this on a
regular H&E for the most part, so I am wondering at what point the tissue
is "dried" to produce this artifact. If I cut the tissue in half in the
block, it still shows this artifact at the inner edge, so I don't think it
could happen before processing. Any info?
Thanks in advance.
Marg
Supervisor, Anatomic Pathology
Eisenhower Medical Center
39-000 Bob Hope Drive
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270